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Thursday, April 10, 2008

An Enjoyable Daily Commute?

(Yeah it isn't the greatest photo...camera phone)

Dan's latest post got me thinking about how fortunate I am and how I brush off most of my daily rides as "not blog worthy". Many of my co-workers and others in the office building where I work have questioned my sanity when they've noticed that I commute on my Harley despite temperature.

I find it humorous that they question my sanity when commuting on the bike is by secret to maintaining my sanity. Back before I owned a motorcycle, if you made a comment about enjoying your commute to and from work or looking forward to the ride home, I'd a thought you needed counseling. But that is exactly what commuting on the bike has done. I look forward to the ride home. I get 30-45 minutes of time doing something I enjoy - riding a motorcycle. There are no cell phone conversations and no radio programs distracting me. Instead, I smell the smells of flowers and trees in bloom, fresh mowed grass. I can hear everything around me. I can hear the brakes that need replacing on the truck ahead of me, the valves that need adjusting in the car beside me, the helicopter crossing the highway, everything one misses when locked inside a cage. All the isolation of being couped up in a cage are removed. I've noticed that the majority of the impact of a rough day at work is practically eliminated after my ride home on the bike - something the same trip in my pickup just doesn't do.

So, don't let me take it for granted. It wasn't always like this and it is a welcome change. The last three years of commuting on the bike have been the most enjoyable years of my working career. The significant savings due to the better fuel mileage is icing on the cake. Thanks Dan for helping me remember that it is blogworthy even if it happens everyday.

5 comments:

I've been riding to work almost exclusively for the last 16 months, and it's been an absolute joy. Some parts of the commute are incredibly peaceful and centering, and some parts are exciting and blood-pumping (I285->I20 for sure). The mix really gives my system a workout in the morning, like jumping out of a sauna and into the snow.

I consider my worst riding days are better than my best driving days. So, I sold my car last week. I work with a really intelligent bunch of younger people, but they still freak out a little bit when they find out. "But what will you do when it rains?". It seems that a generation of folks here in the US seem to believe that waterproof gear doesn't exist!

Ahwell. I'll just keep on riding and smiling. There is no smile like being able to get around something due to my small size when everyone else is blocked off waiting for the road to clear.

I rode back and forth to work every dry day last season from the middle of June until I got hit by a car on 9/24. It was just as you described it.

My favorite stretch went by this huge lake and then became what I dubbed 'the cool road.' So many trees lined each side of this road that they grew up and across to form a tunnel of sorts. On the hottest summer days you'd actually feel the temperature drop when you rode into its comforting shade. I lost that job due to my injuries, so I won't be going that way any more.

I hope whatever new commute route I end up with after I get off disability has something nice to offer.